Vietnamese start-up airline Bamboo Airways will begin flying within weeks according to inside sources. The Airline was recently featured in our Startup Airline of the Week and has been greatly anticipated.

However not all has been going well for the startup, originally it was supposed to launch back on October 10th this year, but failed to get an aviation license in time.

That will soon change, as it's been revealed that they will be granted a license from next week!

Who is Bamboo Airways?

Bamboo Airways is actually rather interesting, as it's not founded by an eccentric millionaire (Like WOW Air who recently sold up to Icelandair) nor by a consortium of airlines (Such as IAG founding their Norwegian competitor LEVEL), but by a hotel chain.

Now, this is not any normal hotel chain, but a string of resorts, tour operators and more. They see value in bringing tourists from Vietnams capital cities, to underdeveloped regions that are ripe for their hotel expansion. Essentially expanding vertically into their business model.

This is an excellent point of difference when compared to the other operators in the Vietnam marketplace.

They plan to have a fleet of 24 Airbus A320neo narrowbody aircraft for domestic routes, and 20 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners for international routes. As we have seen with Norwegian, the Boeing Dreamliner is perfect for long-haul low-cost carriers.

But unlike other low-cost carriers, it's rumored that Bamboo will have a fully fledged first class section on their Dreamliners, perhaps with suites with doors?

Bamboo Airways plans serve 24 domestic and 16 international routes by 2025. Some of which will be all the way to the west coast of America.

It will be Vietnam's 5th Airline in an increasingly crowded marketplace. Vietnam is very attractive as it has a large population, with access to money (To travel) and an underdeveloped (until now) aviation industry. It is also strategically located between other populated Asian countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, and the Philippines.

Their motto is "More than a flight".

When will they start flying?

The chairman of the parent firm that owns Bamboo Airways revealed that they will have authorization from the Vietnamese government by next week, and will have flights flying in 45 days from then.

"Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has approved the proposal from the Ministry of Transport to issue the license to the airline. We will launch our first flight within 45 days after receiving the licence" -  Trinh Van Quyet, chairman of FLC Group, told Reuters

Their initial routes will be domestic, between the Vietnamese cities of Hanoi, Vinh, Dong Hoi, Nha Trang, Qui Nhon, Phu Quoc.

Their new fleet of planes will not be delivered until April 2020, so it's likely they will be leasing aircraft for this initial operation.